Transfer of spectrum licences held by Shaw Communications Inc., Bell Mobility Inc. and TELUS Communications Company

Licence transfer and subordinate licence decisions

Applications

1. On May 28, 2018, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) received an application for the transfer of spectrum licences in the Broadband Radio Services (BRS) band in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta from Shaw Communications Inc. (Shaw) to Bell Mobility Inc. (Bell), and the transfer of BRS licences from Bell to Shaw in the same areas.

2. The application included a request for ISED to approve the subordination of Bell’s BRS licences to TELUS Communications Company (TELUS) in the same licence areas. The applicants also requested 90-day subordinate licences between Shaw and Bell as well as from Shaw to TELUS to facilitate the migration of customers between spectrum blocks.

5. Capitalized terms not defined in this decision have the meaning set out in CPC-2-1-23.

Decision

6. The Licence Transfers and subordinate licence applications described above are approved.

Rationale

7. The applications were assessed against the policy objectives and criteria set out in section 5.6 of CPC-2-1-23.

8. ISED notes that the Licence Transfers will not result in a change in spectrum concentration in the licence areas.

9. ISED has determined that the requested Licence Transfers will not impact the ability of existing or future competitors to provide services given that the transfers will not change the post-transfer concentration of commercial mobile spectrum in the affected licence areas.

* ISED has approved the cancellation of the existing subordinate licences to TELUS.
** Tier 3-044-005 (Outside of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan) is a subdivision of Tier 3-044 (Edmonton) that covers the same area as Tier 3-044 (Edmonton) with the exception of a portion of Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. Lloydminster is a city divided at the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The subdivision of 3-044 (3-044-005) was created to align with provincial borders and holds no substantive difference in service area.